How to Get Rid of Sunspots

Right now there is no one best way to treat sun-damaged skin. There are lots of different treatment options available to revers the aging effects of UV radiation. A lot depends upon your skin type, degree of sun damage, willingness to accept recovery time, and, your budget. But, obviously, the main thing to remember is “good sunblock everyday” In general, makeup that contains sunscreen is not enough. You really should apply daily a separate sunblock with SPF of 30. So, what happens during sun exposure? Well, sun stimulates our melanocytes to produce more pigment, which in turn creates darker spots on our skin. In addition to sunspots, photo-damage also manifests itself with wrinkles, constantly dilated blood vessels, and dry leathery skin. Right now, in UK there three most popular treatment options. They are chemical peels, retinoids, and laser treatments.

Most freckles, age spots, and sun spots can be treated with chemical peels. Most people report pretty good results. Chemical peel procedure is pretty simple. A variety of different acid containing solutions are applied to problem areas (usually face and decollete). While it sounds scary, it’s actually pretty painless. Chemicals peels help renew your skin and stimulate production newer cells.

There are three types of chemical peels for treating brown spots and fine wrinkles. They vary in strength and penetrate to varying depths. Most light or superficial peels use alpha-hydroxy acids, also know as fruit acids. They include glycolic, mandelic, and lactic acids. Medium depth peels are usually TCA Peels (tricholoroacetic acid) and Jessner’s Peel (combination peel). Deep peels use phenol and high concetration trichloroacetic acid (over 50%). The results from receiving a chemical peel can last from several weeks to several months if the skin is taken care of. With proper protection from the sun, a deep chemical peel can actually last for several years. However, hormonal changes and lack of proper skin care can bring back some of the imperfections that the chemical peel got rid of such as acne and sun spots.

It is also important to remember that sagging skin, bulges, and deep severe wrinkles do not respond well to chemical peels. They may need other kinds of cosmetic surgical procedures, such as laser resurfacing, a facelift, brow lift, eyelid lift, or hyaluronic acid fillers.

The retionid or vitamin A based creams can also be used to treat sun related aging such as sun spots, small wrinkles, and sagging skin. These retionids include prescription creams (at least in the UK) like Retin- A, Renova, Refissa,Tazarotene, Adapalene, and Alitretinoin. There are a number of OTC creams. Most of them contain retinol with concentration ranging ro 0.5% to 5%.

These retinoid creams improve skin in a number of ways but they reduce brown spots by speeding up the cell activity in the skin which moves the pigment up and out faster. They may also help the pigment making cells to spread the microscopic brown granules (melanin) more evenly. So yes, it will help with brown spots but if the brown spots already have texture – you can feel them as raised when you pass your finger over it – the retinol itself probably won’t be enough. Also, the longer the spot has been there, the less likely that the retinol alone will do the job. Unlike chemical peels, retinol and other retinoids increase collage production. This makes it ideal in treating skin sagging and wrinkles. It is also worth noting that retinoids can be combined with chemical peels for a more effective treatment.

Laser and IPL treatments are probably the fastest and most effective right now. At presfent time, lasers can eradicate everything from broken blood vessels and redness to uneven tone, large pores, fine lines and brown spots. The best lasers for this are often ruby lasers, yag lasers, and alexandrite lasers. A laser treatment typically results in very fast results. There is usually a small flat scab isolated to the location of the dark spot. After about 1-2 weeks it’s resolved and most or all of the spot are gone. IPL or Intense Pulse Light mostly works on sun spots. Unlike lasers, IPL provides a broad spectrum of light. But, the mechanism of action is pretty similar to lasers (dark spots absorb light energy and get destroyed).

One to three laser treatments or five to six IPL treatments are usually required to remove sun spots, freckles and age spots. These treatments can cover a large area with a very little downtime associated with each. A few days post treatment, the treated areas become much darker. They take appearance of coffee grinds. This perfectly normal. After about 2 weeks, they naturally fall off and fade. Usually, results become noticeable after about two to three treatments, but many people notice a difference after the very first treatment.